The Benjamin Franklin Parkway has sliced through the Logan Square neighborhood of Center City (downtown) Philadelphia since World War I. Named after Philadelphia's favorite son, the mile-long boulevard begins at City Hall and heads diagonally towards Logan Circle before reaching the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Parkway is the chief corridor for the city's cultural institutions and serves as the primary gateway to Philadelphia's renowned Fairmount Park. It was planned and built in the early 20th Century during the golden age of picture postcards. The postcards and other images in this work show the grand thoroughfare's development and its role in Philadelphia's civic and cultural life, despite it often serving as a speedway into and out of town. All told, the Ben Franklin Parkway is a triumph in urban planning and roadway design that has become a treasured part of the City of Brotherly Love. 

Harry Kyriakodis is a historian and writer about Philadelphia, and has collected what is likely the largest private collection of books about the City of Brotherly Love—more than two thousand titles, new and old. He is a founding/certified member of the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides and gives walking tours and presentations on unique yet unappreciated parts of the city for various groups. Once an officer in the U.S. Army Field Artillery, Harry is a graduate of La Salle University (1986) and Temple University School of Law (1993). He is the author of Philadelphia’s Lost Waterfront, published in 2011, and Northern Liberties: The Story of a Philadelphia River Ward, both released by The History Press. His most recent title is a postcard history book on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, issued this past July by Arcadia Publishing.